229. The Joy of Completion

Living Life class ended this week. New Life class will also finish next week. 13 weeks sound long (and feel long at times), but once it is over, I’m encouraged by members who faithfully remained till the end, saying they are proud of themselves for completing it. Everything meaningful takes time and effort, but the joy of completing it makes it all worth it.

Starting is often easy because it is exciting to start something new. But finishing it is hard. Starting is exciting. But what is the least exciting part of finishing is remaining in it. I’ve started to set a specific number of books to read since last year. I completed my goal last year. But this year, I’m a few books behind my goal. The hardest part is always keeping at it.

But the joy of Completion keeps me coming back to my goal.

God finishes what he started. (Philippians 1:6) As we are created in God’s image, we naturally desire to complete things. If you feel tired or unenergetic, try completing a few things that are unfinished, such as an unfinished book, unfulfilled plan, workout you quit some time ago. Gandhi famously said, “Indolence (laziness) is delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy.” There is much truth to it. Work is not a curse; unending work is.

But no matter how many tasks we complete, we will still be somehow stressed because we will always have uncompleted things in this life. But when we get to heaven, we will live with the joy of Completion for eternity, as all our checklists are marked off, with no outstanding tasks and no unfinished projects.